Sunday, October 10, 2004
Something pretty important to me happened a couple of weeks ago and I haven't even discussed it here. That event was the release of Smile by Brian Wilson. This album was probably the most famous never released album ever and now it is here in 2004. To some of my friends it must be odd to hear me say that it has all been somewhat bittersweet. I know it is a bad position to take, but all I can think about is "what could have been." I was in Amoeba Records yesterday and they were playing it over the sound system. One thing I can say wholeheartedly is that the music is amazing. I don't feel let down by the sound of the album at all. The flow of the music is impressive and Brian Wilson just has a knack for writing great melodies and transisions. I don't know about you, but I often find myself following a song and in my head I'm thinking "why did you go there when you could have gone over here." That is not the case here. The melodies go in very satisfying directions and many times they go in unexpected, yet rewarding, directions. I guess I have a bit of a problem with the vocals. All things considered they sound pretty good; the backing band is actually quite adept at handling their vocal chores. Let's face it, Brian's voice isn't what it once was. If you listen to songs from Pet Sounds his vocals have the abilty to make you melt. Once again, all things considered, he does a capable job, but can you imagine the Beach Boys from 1967 doing these vocals? It makes me want to weep. After listening to the new Smile I listened to my bootlegs of the old sessions and that is all I could think of. I sound worse than I actually feel. I'm happy to have a great facsimile of Smile, but I do hope they eventually release a legitimate version of all the old recording sessions. I am also looking forward to seeing Brian and band perform Smile live at the end of the month and I'm sure that while I'm there it will all hit me and I'll have tears running down my face.
One more thing, if you have Showtime, check the listings because they are showing a good documentary about the making of (then and now) and legend of Smile.
Yesterday I went with Suze to see I HEART HUCKABEES. I wasn't all that excited about seeing it, but I really ended up loving it. She really wanted to see it and had a lukewarm reaction to it. Why did I love it... This film is actually dealing with some pretty heavy issues like our existence on this planet and how we live our lives. You can try to make sense of all the debates that come up about this, but you don't have to. I enjoyed contemplating this throughout the movie, but I did not focus all my attention to it. You could say that much of this material is really the plot of the film, but I guess I didn't spend too much time thinking about the plot. I didn't really try to make sense of the film and what I'm writing is probably not making any sense to anyone who reads it. :-) Instead I directed my focus to other aspects of the film. One of these aspects is genre. This movie is really a screwball comedy and it is also a work of surrealism. Buster Keaton comes to mind as directed by Luis Bunuel. It is Peter Sellers in a Blake Edwards film. The movie is nuts and I love it because it is nuts. It's a cartoon train that is going off the tracks, but you laugh when it does. There is a great "love scene" that perfectly depicts l'amour fou (mad love) so often brought up by the Surrealists. I swear the director must have thought of a scene from Luis Bunuel's L'AGE D'OR when he filmed that scene. The cast is great and I have to single out Mark Wahlberg for the intensity he brings to his role. Actually all the actors have this certain heightened, goofy intensity that I really liked. It accentuates the absurdity of the mundane which I think is also an aspect of the film. I can see how the film wouldn't be to everyone's tastes, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The director of this film, David O. Russell, made another really great screwball comedy a few years ago called FLIRTING WITH DISASTER and I would highly recommend that you check it out.
One of the topics brought up by I HEART HUCKABEES is "what makes life worth living." Well, for me at least yesterday, it was spending time with a great friend, listening to good music, seeing a good movie, eating a good meal at Houston's, having a beer, and finding out that the Dodgers won their game and are still (barely) alive in the playoff race. They need to win today to keep me from crying. ;-)
One more thing, if you have Showtime, check the listings because they are showing a good documentary about the making of (then and now) and legend of Smile.
Yesterday I went with Suze to see I HEART HUCKABEES. I wasn't all that excited about seeing it, but I really ended up loving it. She really wanted to see it and had a lukewarm reaction to it. Why did I love it... This film is actually dealing with some pretty heavy issues like our existence on this planet and how we live our lives. You can try to make sense of all the debates that come up about this, but you don't have to. I enjoyed contemplating this throughout the movie, but I did not focus all my attention to it. You could say that much of this material is really the plot of the film, but I guess I didn't spend too much time thinking about the plot. I didn't really try to make sense of the film and what I'm writing is probably not making any sense to anyone who reads it. :-) Instead I directed my focus to other aspects of the film. One of these aspects is genre. This movie is really a screwball comedy and it is also a work of surrealism. Buster Keaton comes to mind as directed by Luis Bunuel. It is Peter Sellers in a Blake Edwards film. The movie is nuts and I love it because it is nuts. It's a cartoon train that is going off the tracks, but you laugh when it does. There is a great "love scene" that perfectly depicts l'amour fou (mad love) so often brought up by the Surrealists. I swear the director must have thought of a scene from Luis Bunuel's L'AGE D'OR when he filmed that scene. The cast is great and I have to single out Mark Wahlberg for the intensity he brings to his role. Actually all the actors have this certain heightened, goofy intensity that I really liked. It accentuates the absurdity of the mundane which I think is also an aspect of the film. I can see how the film wouldn't be to everyone's tastes, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The director of this film, David O. Russell, made another really great screwball comedy a few years ago called FLIRTING WITH DISASTER and I would highly recommend that you check it out.
One of the topics brought up by I HEART HUCKABEES is "what makes life worth living." Well, for me at least yesterday, it was spending time with a great friend, listening to good music, seeing a good movie, eating a good meal at Houston's, having a beer, and finding out that the Dodgers won their game and are still (barely) alive in the playoff race. They need to win today to keep me from crying. ;-)
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